Mapping Reflection (due Thu 10/15)

After you have completed the maps, write a short (1-3 page) reflection about your experience. This reflection should include: a justification for data selection and map design, response to data collection (field work), responses to concerns that were brought up during the gallery walk, your thoughts about the relative ease or difficulty in representing data, and any ideas you may have about the potential use for maps like those you have created. The strongest responses will demonstrate critical analysis of the author’s mapping work and will link the mapping experience to other concepts and discussion from this unit.

• Title of Mapping Project and date(s) field and classroom work were conducted
• Methods (a justification for data selection and map design) Outline the steps you completed during your planning and field analysis: what type of data did you collect and why? Was the collection qualitative or quantitative? How did it impact your impression of the project area? What did you choose to emphasize in your map? Be specific—someone else should be able to read this section and easily understand the data you collected, how & why it was collected, how it impacted you, and how you choose to characterize the case study.
• Initial Impression of the Project Area Briefly state your initial impression of the project area based on your prior knowledge and what data you expected you would collect: What did you think were the primary issues in the area? (e.g., “I had driven past the area and had seen the nice houses there. I assumed the neighborhood was a nice place to live and I would consider living there.") Then state the key data you planned to collect. (e.g., “My group needed to know what the environment was like beyond how the neighborhood looked to passers by. What was the experience of living in the neighborhood?What did it look like and sound like when you were sitting on your porch or if you opened your windows?)
• Changes Resulting from Data Collection, Analysis, and Group Discussion (responses to concerns that were brought up during the gallery walk) Describe what happened when you and your group collected and examined the sensory data. (e.g., “When I got out of the car to collect sensory data, I could hear birds singing, but I could smell rotting hay. The unpleasant smells changed my impression of the neighborhood.” or “When we looked at all the data it was clear that the people living in the neighborhood were subject to some very unpleasant conditions. However, we wanted additional data to make sure our initial impression was correct, so several group members went back to the study area on another day to collect more data.”) Describe what happened when you and your group developed and displayed your data and the responses you received during the gallery walk.
• Impact of Consideration and Presentation of Different Forms of Data Describe your thoughts about the relative ease or difficulty in representing data, and any ideas you may have about the potential use for maps like those you have created. Interpret what the results mean. What do you make of the results of your field work? Why do you think you (and your group) got the impressions you did? How did your limited data set and the way it was presented influence your results? What limitations were there on presenting your data? How did viewing other group’s maps and receiving feedback on your own map impact how you view maps as an expression of data? What might you do differently the next time you do research and collect data and why? How does the type of data and its characterization impact people’s impressions of your study area? How is this likely to impact the way you present data in the future, and why?
• Relation to geophysical environment and data What was the relationship of the sensory data collected to the physical environment? Why were the odors and/or sounds where they were? What impacted their movement through the environment? If you were to advise a geoscientist during the development of a field work and sampling plan, what and where should they sample? Why?
• Assignment document file

QUESTIONS??? e-mail me at: mike_phillips@ivcc.edu